Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Getting Call Center Scheduling Right the First Time
Building and sticking to a schedule is one of the most difficult tasks in a call center. Getting it right is critical, of course, since by some estimates, 60 to 80 percent of a contact center’s operation costs are tied to staffing. Over-staffing wastes money and risks boring agents, which isn’t likely to endear them to their jobs. Under-staffing risks long hold times - which kills customer relationships, and burns out agents…also unlikely to endear them to their jobs.
Since no two organizations are the same, picking out a scheduling solution becomes tricky. One-size-fits-all solutions are unlikely to work well if they can’t adapt to a particular organization’s needs. Before shopping for a scheduling solution, contact centers first need to determine precisely what their needs are, and that means taking some factors into consideration.
Full-time, part-time or a mix? Not all solutions can schedule part-time well, and if there’s a mix of full-time and part time, a simple solution may not work well when it comes to getting it right.
Agent autonomy. Many contact centers find success in allowing agents to use the scheduling solution to swap schedules or automatically bid for time off. It eliminates a time-consuming manual process, builds fairness into the schedule (agents don’t feel there is favoritism if the workforce management solution is controlling the process) and allows agents to feel more in control of their schedules.
Centralized administration. If the call center is multisite and the managers very mobile, remote administration of the scheduling solution may be called for. For multisite call centers, it’s critical that the various locations and even home-based agents can all be scheduled and managed through the same solution, and this solution can be administered from wherever managers and directors are.
Historical data. For most contact centers, past contact center activity is an important tool in determining future call center schedules, particularly when it comes to special promotions, new campaigns or holidays. This requires a solution that can be easily integrated with the call center’s ACD and PBX (News - Alert).
Multichannel considerations. Will you be scheduling phone work only with your scheduling solution? Or will you also want to pull other channels such as e-mail, Web chat and social media into it? Will you use the scheduling solution to build in training sessions?
Service level alerts. Many scheduling solutions are static, in that they present a schedule and expect that managers will keep track of the real operations against the schedule. Many of today’s modern scheduling solutions will send alerts in the form of dashboards, text message or screen pops when portions of the schedule go out of adherence, which allows managers to make improvements or adjustments on the fly in order to meet service levels.
Cloud-based or premise-based. Many solutions today are available in both models so companies can choose which will work best for them. For smaller companies or those with multiple sites, cloud-based solutions often work best, since they are less expensive and easier to implement and more flexible to manage.
Call center staff or back-office staff. While some scheduling solutions are designed for call center personnel only, broader solutions allow back-office support staff to be scheduled alongside call center agents. This ensures that when contact center workers need an answer from another department – accounting, tech support, etc. – they have those resources readily available.
Before a company begins shopping for a scheduling solution, it’s critical to determine the contact center’s needs in order to choose a solution that best meets those needs. Otherwise, contact centers are at risk of splashing out a lot of money for a scheduling solution that helps the organization go precisely nowhere.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi